


There's a body in the desert

by Tassos



Category: Life, NCIS
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Promptfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-31
Updated: 2008-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-02 11:36:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/pseuds/Tassos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vignette. There's a body in the desert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a body in the desert

**Author's Note:**

> Written for grimorie. Quotes from IMDB and Soul of the Garden

  
“We gotta be quick.” Reese’s phone snapped closed. “L.T. says the feds are on their way.”

“Feds?” Crews looked up from the body – twisted and torqued unnaturally. If it wasn’t gruesome it’d be beautiful.

“Seems Mr. Doe here’s a sailor.” Reese took two steps and crouched beside him. “What do we got?”

“What’s a sailor doing in the desert?”

“Maybe he was on vacation.”

“No gear.” Crews looked at the body again. “What were you doing in the desert. What does anyone do in the desert? Wander. Wonder. Was he looking for enlightenment?”

“If he was, I doubt he found it,” said Reese.

“ ‘The desert is the physical manifestation of emptiness. In this space I cannot hide.’”

“Yeah.” Reese gave him one of those looks, part skeptical, part you’re-crazy, part why-am-I-stuck-with-you.

“Neither could he,” said Crews reflexively. “Someone got him.” He tried not to smile when Reese rolled her eyes.

“C’mon.” Reese stood up and motioned for the forensics guys to come on over. Twenty yards away it was a zoo of emergency vehicles and CSI hotshots coming over the tire tracks of the victim’s car and the murder weapon, a brittle piece of tailpipe. In the harsh sunlight, outside of the two of them, it was another world. A world of busy people. Crews glanced up at Reese as she watched them come over, unsmiling, hidden behind her sunglasses. “Crews, are you listening to me?” she asked without looking at him.

“He wasn’t, but he was also pretty sure she hadn’t said anything.

“If we can get the evidence before the Feds show up we might be able to keep the case.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” said the CSI guy. He wasn’t anyone Crews knew, and a second later he was flashing a badge that said he wasn’t even LAPD.

“Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.” He smiled at Reese, bright and charming, as fake as anyone in this town ever smiled. Even Crews. Especially Crews. He didn’t think Reese even blinked. “This is Ziva David. NCIS.”

“You got here fast,” said Reese.

“That’s because I drove,” said David with a pointed look at her partner who winced and said to them, “Oddly, that upped your chances of not seeing us at all,” for which he got an elbow in the ribs.

“What do we have?” David asked. She sidestepped Reese to look at the sailor’s head, putting the camera in her hands to work. Crews stood to get out of her way before she ran over him.

“We have a serial killer to catch,” said Reese who moved to block DiNozzo when he tried to follow his partner. “We’re taking the lead on this investigation.”

DiNozzo’s smile just got wider, like a shark’s. “Oh, I don’t think so.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be playing second horn,” said David pausing briefly in her work. It was an odd thing to say; both Crews and Reese looked over, parsing meaning and patience respectively.

“She means ‘fiddle,’” said DiNozzo who hadn’t turned away from Reese, but the smile was gone. “And no, you’re not taking the lead.”

Reese shifted her glare back to the agent. “I appreciate that this case has crossed state lines –”

“International,” DiNozzo interrupted. “And no, you don’t have the security clearance for the details. Now, you’re lieutenant said that you would be happy to help us get around town, and to thank you for that help, we’ll keep you in the loop as much as we can. What do you say?”

Reese was grinding her teeth, knowing like Crews did that a compromise like this was the best they were going to get. Didn’t mean she liked it. Didn’t mean he liked it either, but he said, “Fantastic,” with a wide, plastic smile, when Reese refused to answer.

“Great!” DiNozzo grinned and moved around Reese who was now glaring at Crews. He shrugged – what was he supposed to have said – which only made her glare harder but she answered cool, calm, and professional as DiNozzo and Davis started asking questions. Crews had heard it all before, come up with half of it himself, so he crouched by the body again. The man, the sailor, was young. His eyes were closed and he looked at peace, a notion belied by the wreck his body had been twisted into.

The murmur of voices continued above him. “Any idea why he was in the desert?” asked David.

“The desert will give you an understanding of the world,” Crews said before he thought about it. Except he was thinking about it. The world. The desert. This young man, dead here. “You don't even have to understand the desert: all you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see the marvels of creation.” When he looked up, all three were staring at him. Blank faces, frowns, irritation for Reese, but not at him so much as with them, and Crews thought she might be smiling a bit at their confusion, because she wasn’t confused. He met her gaze. No, not confused at all.

“Hmm.” DiNozzo shifted his gaze from Crews to the body. “ ‘No Arab loves the desert,’” he said, eyes shifting back to Crews thoughtfully. “We love water and green trees. There is nothing in the desert and no man needs nothing.’” They stared at each other for a long moment but Crews wasn’t sure what DiNozzo was seeing. Wasn’t sure what he saw himself. It sure wasn’t sand grains.

“Great, another one,” said Reese, irritated again.

“Alec Guinness, Lawrence of Arabia, 1962. Great movie.” DiNozzo grinned at her. Behind his back David rolled her eyes and Crews wasn’t surprised when Reese just shook her head and moved on.

“No, we don’t know why he’s out here.” She addressed David, who closed her notebook and nodded. “Yet.”

Crews grinned at DiNozzo. “I’ve seen Star Wars,” he said. “I always liked the Force. The Light side and the Dark side that holds the universe together.”

DiNozzo tilted his head and frowned again. “You know Lucas stole all the good parts, right?”

“Well,” David interrupted them. She and Reese were staring side by side with mutual those looks, part skeptical, part you’re-crazy, part why-am-I-stuck-with-you. “This is going to be fun.”


End file.
